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Tag Archives: Tower Garden

Have you ever wondered what puts the POWER in the Patented Vertical Aeroponic Tower Garden® Technology?

I am often asked, “What is aeroponics?” Aeroponics is considered a hydroponic technique or method, so the process is a form of hydroponics.

Inside the tower chamber.(Click photo to enlarge)

Aeroponics is simply defined as the process of growing plants in an air or mist environment without the use of soil or an aggregate medium.

The Tower Garden® growing chamber contains no soil or aggregate medium. Instead, the chamber is empty. It’s just roots and air between each irrigation cycle. The tumbling water during these irrigation cycles creates a fine mist, oxygenating the water and bathing the roots of each plant on its way down to the reservoir. This process is continuously repeated with each irrigation cycle, providing maximum amounts of fresh oxygen, water, and nutrients to the roots of the plants 24 hours a day.

The intelligent design of the Tower Garden® system produces extraordinary crops that grow much faster than they would in soil, producing bountiful harvests within weeks of being transplanted into the system.

Tower to table in ten steps . . . farming made so simple anyone can do it!(Click photo to enlarge)

Another key benefit is the massive growing chamber for the roots. Because the plants’ roots do not run out of space, they continue to grow strong and healthy. There are commercial Tower Garden® farmers producing herb crops for several years now with plenty of room to go!

About our aeroponic plant food:

To achieve our mission of producing healthy food for people, we also developed an all-natural, stable, water-based ionic mineral solution to support the patented vertical aeroponic Tower Garden® technology.

With assistance from leading world experts in plant and human nutrition, we developed the proprietary Aeroponic Power-Gro® and the Tower Tonic® plant food we use today. Aeroponic Power-Gro® and the Tower Tonic® contains a wide range of specially-formulated ionic minerals and plant nutrients. It is the world’s first high-performance ionic mineral solution specifically designed for all types of food and flowering crops. The pH balanced blend of natural plant nutrients helps stimulate plants’ roots, flowers, fruits, and leaves.

Unlike conventional hydroponic fertilizers, the amazing Aeroponic Power-Gro® and the Tower Tonic® can be used to grow everything from gourmet lettuce and edible flowers to beautiful vine-ripened tomatoes. Healthy plants packed with nutrition help create healthy people.

Aeroponic Power-Gro® and the Tower Tonic® are also loaded with trace minerals that are essential to vibrant human health! Jake Kelly, a commercial rooftop Tower Garden® farmer in Southern California, recently grew a 3-foot aeroponic kale plant in a matter of weeks.

As you can see, our patented Tower Garden® system helps both large growers and smaller growers to develop highly flavorful, pesticide-free, and environmentally-friendly crops. Whether it is a commercial farm or a balcony in Manhattan, NY, the vertical aeroponic Tower Garden® is putting the POWER back into local food.

Phoenix, Arizona-based True Garden is the premier vertical aeroponic food farm in the Southwest U.S. This first-of-its-kind facility, operated by solar power, was designed in partnership with Future Growing® LLC with a vision to drastically reduce the region’s agricultural water consumption while making local, living produce available year-round in the hot desert regions of Phoenix and the Southwest US.

True Garden is the first high-tech greenhouse in the U.S. capable of producing most cool season food crops year-round—even in the scorching desert, where temperatures reach 120 degrees during the day and 90 degrees at night during summer months. The greenhouse uses very little energy in the winter months by operating in a naturally vented mode. During the hotter summer months, the greenhouse utilizes a combination of smart and efficient technologies to affordably keep the greenhouse at optimal temperatures, both during the day and night.

As the centerpiece of its state-of-the art greenhouse, True Garden founders Lisa and Troy Albright selected Future Growing’s® vertical aeroponic Tower Garden® technology because Future Growing® has a very successful and proven track record–establishing hundreds of urban farms with its vertical aeroponic technology across the country–and the vertical tower farm is ideal for small urban settings like this one.

Utilizing Future Growing’s® aeroponic technology which re-circulates valuable water, True Garden uses 95% less water, 90% less space, and no harmful chemical, pesticides, or herbicides like Roundup®. The technology benefits urban growers and consumers alike, since the aeroponic plants grown in Tower Gardens® are more nutrient-dense than traditional produce. They grow extremely fast, and the Tower Gardens® yield “living” produce with the roots still intact. You cannot buy produce that is fresher and more hyperlocal than that.

24 day old “living” basil ready for market. (Click photo to enlarge)

Understanding that the current U.S. water crisis is more serious than any other time in our history, Lisa and Troy are dedicated to implementing technologies like Future Growing’s® vertical aeroponic growing system that empower local farmers, eliminate food transportation, and use significantly less water than conventional farming. In addition to urban farming, True Garden is dedicated educating the public and empowering homeowners to grow the same way in their own back yard. Local food, living produce, tours, events, and classes at True Garden can be found at www.TrueGarden.com.

Today, I would like to share with you the story of how Niels Thorlaksson, an amazing Tower Garden® farmer in Santa Barbara, transformed his life from a job that he was not passionate about to living his dream of growing food for the masses with the most energy-efficient and sustainable farming method on the planet. With the severe drought in California, more farmers are looking for similar sustainable, earth friendly growing solutions—and Tower Garden® vertical food farming technology,which uses 90 percent less water on 90 percent land, provides that chemical-free solution for feeding Americans, today and into the future.

“My Dad, Erik, has always been an avid gardener, which started my interest in growing my own fruits and vegetables when I was just a little kid. We would plant a garden at home with tomatoes, squash, and zucchini, to name just a few. It was fun eating fresh produce that we had grown, and we enjoyed sharing our harvest with friends too. Growing up, we spent our Saturday mornings visiting the local farmers’ market. I loved trying all the cool local foods, and seeing new offerings with each season. These values of growing my own food and supporting local farmers stuck with me and are still very important to me.

For the past three years, I had been working for a large company in downtown Los Angeles. I realized that my job wasn’t who I was or what I stood for. I knew that I wanted to be involved with something that was making a bigger impact on our world, and do something I really loved. But I had no idea what it was going to be.

This realization coincided with my introduction to the Tower Garden®. I was fascinated by the technology and loved the ability to save signficiant water, space and time while growing. My family and I decided to purchase one Tower Garden®, and we set it up next to our tomato and squash garden in the back yard.

However, I soon learned that Tower Gardens® were being used for much more than for home growers. I found out that they are being used for commercial food production to support the sustainable and local food movements. I wanted to see how it worked with my own eyes, so I went on tours of several Tower Garden® farms.

Seeing how the Tower Gardens® can directly impact people’s lives in such a positive way was the final piece of the puzzle. I helped set up several small farms in southern California, and saw that other people shared my values. This is when I decided I wanted to get involved and start a project of my own.

Land is extremely expensive in my area, so I currently have 100 Future Growing® Tower Gardens® in my own back yard. Watering grass has given way to watering food, which is grown and used locally. My part-time hobby expanded my vision and passion for local growing, in what has become a successful, full-time business.

Click photo to enlarge.

I am blessed to be working with some of the top restaurants in Santa Barbara region, and my five-star produce undoubtedly keeps me in that position. I work directly with the chefs to deliver exactly what they want to see on their menus. I can grow special varieties they can’t find in farmers’ markets. When I get my orders, I can deliver them the same day, since most of the restaurants are a few minutes away from my farm in downtown Santa Barbara. In fact, I am the closest farm to downtown!

I hope our Tower Garden® farm will inspire people to change the way they think about the food they eat, where it comes from, and how it is produced. With many of the problems we are facing in the future, I believe the Tower Garden® is essential to improving the way we access our food.”

Everyone at Future Growing agrees with Niels that the vertical aeroponic Tower Garden® growing system is necessary to support the populations of today and the future. With its recirculating water system, the Tower Garden® technology saves an incredible amount of time, water, and energy and—most importantly—produces the best-tasting, sustainable produce around. I commend Niels, along with all the other Future Growing® farmers, for following their passion and building a business that not only improves their lives, but also the lives of everyone around them and the planet.

Chef Emeril Lagasse became popular with TV audiences soon after “Emeril Live” began airing on the Food Network in 1997. The show was certainly popular in our family, partly because of Emeril’s humorous, down-to-earth personality, and partly because of his recipes, which the guys in my family have occasionally downloaded and attempted to re-create.

Besides his TV career, Emeril devotes his time and resources to the Emeril Lagasse Foundation, a purpose close to my own heart, which is dedicated to mentoring and enabling young people, especially those from disadvantaged circumstances

Emeril is also an ardent supporter of the farm-to-table movement, which is not surprising. To use his words: “It ain’t rocket science.” Most of us have sampled “fresh” organic produce in the supermarket, only to discover it’s anything but fresh after being trucked thousands of miles and put in storage.

That’s why we at Future Growing® believe “locally sourced” is an essential ingredient of “beyond organic” foods, and we noted with interest a recent “teaser” clip for an episode of “Emeril’s Florida”. “Farm-to-table is our focus,” Emeril proclaimed in the voiceover, so we made sure not to miss the episode when it aired on Feb 16.

In the second segment of the show, Emeril visited his restaurant, “Tchoup Chop”, which he launched near Universal Orlando in 2002. It turns out that The GreenHouse—a Future Growing® Tower Garden® installation operated by Katherine Grandey in central Florida—is a supplier of fresh greens for Tchoup Chop, and provides “some of the best produce in the area,” according to Emeril.

We at Future Growing® recognize the quality and volume of pesticide-free crops that The GreenHouse supplies to a number of Central Florida’s finest restaurants. It was our pleasure to get Katherine started in aeroponic farming, but we believe her success is due to her forward-thinking business strategy, as well as her focus on customer service.

When Emeril visited The GreenHouse, he noted that seasonal availability is not an issue for the operation, and marveled at the output of the relatively small installation (135,000 plants per year). During the episode, he explained that this type of production is made possible by the unique vertical design of the aeroponic Tower Gardens®.

Chef Emeril Lagasse compliments Katherine Grandey on the quality of the food The GreenHouse is producing for area restaurants. (Click photo to enlarge)

“In many cases, she [Katherine] can turn crops around in two to three weeks. That’s pretty amazing,” Emeril commented. “She doesn’t use any pesticides or herbicides”. Importantly, Emeril pointed out how flavorful and delicious all the greens he tasted were. At the end of the segment, Emeril thanked Katherine for her time, and grinned as he told her: “I’m gonna have to take some of this with me.”

We’re grateful to Chef Emeril and other chefs across the country who have helped “farm-to-table” become mainstream. In combination with Future Growing’s® aeroponic technology, local sourcing has become a sustainable, “beyond organic” way to supply the nutritional needs of our planet. And to think all this can be done on 90% less land, using 90% less water, and using no harmful chemicals or herbicides—that is revolutionary!

For photos and additional information about The GreenHouse, click here.

Future Growing® vertical aeroponic Tower Garden® farms range in size from 10-tower turnkey micro-farms to large-scale acreage located under controlled environment greenhouses. Because of the modular nature of the technology and extraordinary growing power of the system, we see our farms popping up in incredibly unique and diverse locations. The Iron Towers urban farm in Middletown, CT is certainly no exception!

The Iron Scissors Salon and Spa underwent an extreme makeover in 2013. People passing by the salon couldn’t help but notice the large vertical garden—the first of its kind in Connecticut—in the salon’s front parking lot.

Owner Jessica Solé says the garden is an extension of her philosophy that clients should leave her establishment looking and feeling their best. “We’re very cutting-edge here, and wellness is a big trend,” Solé told the Middletown Press. “Our mission is to get people to feel their best, inside and out.”

“The growing system is cutting-edge also, using aeroponic Tower Gardens® to grow the plants instead of soil. The system was developed by Future Growing®, a company Tim Blank founded following his work at Disney’s exhibit on The Land at EPCOT Center Theme Park. The Tower Garden® is a completely self-contained system that can be used anywhere. Once plugged in, the unit recycles the water every 15 minutes, creating a soothing ‘waterfall’ sound effect. There are no weeds to deal with, and the system lends itself well to natural and ecological pest control. Iron Towers’ plants grow much quicker than they would if they were grown in soil,” Sole told the newspaper.

While most produce Americans consume produce that is contaminated with pesticides, Iron Towers does not use any pesticides in its operation. “We love to take lettuce right off the towers and feed our clients, knowing that they are eating high quality, chemical-free plants,” Solé said.

This spring, the Iron Scissors Tower Garden® farm is expected to start growing nearly 500 plants, including squash, hot peppers, tomatoes, mixed lettuce, kale, Swiss chard, zucchini, cucumbers, dill, basil, and arugula. The salon is expanding to offer counseling on health and nutrition, and installed a juice bar. Produce from the farm is available at a mini farmers’ market, and — in a first for the Tower Garden® — will be used in masks for the spa, and in salads for its clients.

The Iron Scissors “Tower Team”. (Click photo to enlarge)

The Iron Towers urban farm will be open in mid-April and will have fresh produce, seedlings, and gardening classes available throughout the spring and summer. Iron Towers Farm is located in front of the Iron Scissors Salon at 330 South Main Street in Middletown, CT. You can also call Iron Scissors at 860-344-8418.

An artists’ rendering of the Giants Garden, a 3,000-square-foot organic garden slated to open this summer at AT&T Park. Believed to be the first of its kind at an American sports venue, the edible garden will supply produce for some of the parks’ concessions and serve as an open-air dining area and community classroom.Image courtesy of EDG Design Group. (Click photo to enlarge)

Future Growing’s® Tower Gardens® are set to knock it out of the park this summer, when Giants Garden, a 3,000-square-foot vertical organic garden, opens at AT&T Park in San Francisco. Believed to be the first of its kind at an American sports venue, the edible garden will supply produce for some of the parks’ concessions and serve as an open-air dining area and community classroom.

The ballpark farm won’t be Future Growing’s® first foray into the record books. Leading the local food movement, Future Growing® has held the record of the “first of its kind in the world” farms for the past five years.

2013: Former President Bill Clinton toured Step Up On Vine’s rooftop farm in Los Angeles. Future Growing® opened Step Up On Vine’s rooftop farm, the world’s first aeroponic rooftop farm featuring housing units for the homeless. Step Up On Vine is also the first “green” building with a rooftop aeroponic farm, helping it to qualify as LEED “Platinum” by the U.S. Green Building Council. (Click photos to enlarge)

2012: Future Growing® opened Rouses Supermarket’s “Roots on the Rooftop” farm in New Orleans, the world’s first roof-to-supermarket aeroponic farm. (Click photo to enlarge)

2011: Future Growing® opened O’Hare Urban Garden at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, the world’s first aeroponic farm inside an airport terminal. All of the Tower Garden® produce from the O’Hare Urban Garden is hand-delivered to the airport’s eateries and the O’Hare Farmers Market inside the terminal. (Click photo to enlarge)

Over the past decade, Future Growing® LLC has pioneered and led the modern urban farming movement, installing vertical aeroponic food farms utilizing patented Tower Garden® technology across North America. With more than 100 successful urban farms in the U.S. and Canada, Future Growing® leads the way in the local food growing movement, which has become a mainstream trend.

Our philosophy is simple: In a world where land and resources are limited, we grow more food in less space by growing up instead of out, just like a modern city! By growing locally—right where food is consumed—we reduce our carbon footprint, employ local people, and produce chemical-free food that taste great, is extraordinarily fresh, and is highly nutritious!

We are looking for talented, dedicated individuals who have the same passion that we do for the sustainable urban agriculture movement. Future Growing® and Future Growing® farms plan to fill a minimum of 250 positions in 2014, and more than 1,000 by the end of 2015.

Future Growing® is located in central Florida and will be filling several positions in that region. In addition, Future Growing’s® clients will be filling various farm positions from coast to coast. Please review the positions below and find the opportunity that suits you best!

Click here to visit Future Growing’s “Careers” page and to upload your cover letter and resumé. We look forward to having you on our team in 2014!

Tim BlankFounder and CEO, Future Growing® LLC

Future Growing Positions In Central Florida:

Sales and development for vertical aeroponic farms (Minimum 4 year degree, 2 years experience and/or equivalent)